7 Night British Isles Sept 2, 2018

We are still looking for the easiest way from Heathrow to Dover the day prior to the cruise, not interested in navigating the train.
If you dont want to do the trains, then the easiest way from Heathrow to Dover is on cruise embarkation day. One of the 2017 cruisers did this, they stayed at Sofitel Heathrow Airport and got Disney bus transfer direct from the hotel to the port. They were onboard around 1pm.

Im sure that you could get a private car service but that wil be very expensive.

Can I ask why you dont want to do the trains? Using the trains is a very normal thing to do in Europe, its no big deal.I used to live in London and dont drive and managed all my luggage just fine on my own, on tubes and trains, yes even when I went to California and had a 50 pound case and carry on luggage.

Anyone know what time is the earliest you should book your flight home? Starting to look at flights and have no idea.

Well depending on whether you are flying Heathrow or Gatwick, you are looking at 2 hour approx travel time from the ship to the airport. Then you need to check in approx 3 hours before a transatlantic flight, so realistically you are looking at a flight departure time no earlier than 2pm
 
Hi everyone, My wife, my daughter who will be almost 2 years old and myself are also going to this cruise. It will be our 3rd Disney cruise, the 2nd on the magic. We are from Brussels, Belgium.

We'll stay the night before the cruise in Dover, we chose the Best Western Plus Dover Marina Hotel. After the cruise we plan to stay a couple of nights in Sandwich to visit Deal and Broadstairs before going to London.

It'll be our first cruise as a family of three, we can't wait!
 
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If you dont want to do the trains, then the easiest way from Heathrow to Dover is on cruise embarkation day. One of the 2017 cruisers did this, they stayed at Sofitel Heathrow Airport and got Disney bus transfer direct from the hotel to the port. They were onboard around 1pm.

Im sure that you could get a private car service but that wil be very expensive.

Can I ask why you dont want to do the trains? Using the trains is a very normal thing to do in Europe, its no big deal.I used to live in London and dont drive and managed all my luggage just fine on my own, on tubes and trains, yes even when I went to California and had a 50 pound case and carry on luggage.

I am very accustomed to using trains and subways, regrettably I am the only one willing to consider this option. In Venice we walked to a water taxi stop with bags to get to cruise port, I was the least popular person in Italy the rest of the day. We are traveling the day prior to cruise and looks like we can get a private sedan for around 135 euro - is that a fair price ?



Hi everyone, My wife, my daughter who will be almost 2 years old and myself are also going to this cruise. It will be our 3rd Disney cruise, the 2nd on the magic. We are from Brussels, Belgium.

We'll stay the night before the cruise in Dover, we chose the Best Western Plus Dover Marina Hotel. After the cruise we plan to stay a couple of nights in Sandwich to visit Deal and Broadstairs before going to London.

It'll be our first cruise as a family of three, we can't wait!

Welcome, we are at the Best Western as well. Hope to spend he day touring around the Dover area and heading to port the following morning around 10.
 


Very excited! We booked this cruise as gift to ourselves for our Golden Anniversary. :-) DH and I are complete cruise "newbies" and have never been to Europe. We plan to arrive 2 days ahead so that we can see a little bit of London pre-cruise. We plan to use Disney hotel and transfer services. I read a post here that suggested that we allow 3 hours from Dover to Heathrow, and another 3 hours at the airport prior to our flight home. If we are using Disney transfers, and leave the ship first thing, will there be enough time to catch a 2:40 p.m. flight home on disembarkation day ? Does Disney consider flight times when they arrange transfers? Thanks in advance for any advice.
 
Very excited! We booked this cruise as gift to ourselves for our Golden Anniversary. :-) DH and I are complete cruise "newbies" and have never been to Europe. We plan to arrive 2 days ahead so that we can see a little bit of London pre-cruise. We plan to use Disney hotel and transfer services. I read a post here that suggested that we allow 3 hours from Dover to Heathrow, and another 3 hours at the airport prior to our flight home. If we are using Disney transfers, and leave the ship first thing, will there be enough time to catch a 2:40 p.m. flight home on disembarkation day ? Does Disney consider flight times when they arrange transfers? Thanks in advance for any advice.

We did Disney Transfer a couple years ago and caught our 12:30 flight to the States.
 
We did Disney Transfer a couple years ago and caught our 12:30 flight to the States.
Thank you. That sounds encouraging. May I ask, what was the mode of transportation from Dover to Heathrow airport? How far in advance of your 12:30 flight wee you at the airport?
 


Sorry, should have said we used Disney. We were there about 9:30 however they dropped off at other terminal first so we were another 20 minutes or so since they had to unload luggage for first stop. Security was easy but airline counter very backed up, they started walking through lines announcing early flights and moving those people to the front. That was a bit unnerving as we watched the clock and began to worry, but we made it and had time to sit at the gate a bit before boarding.
 
I have also been to Dublin.Our first visit we went to see Book of Kells and Trinity College.I loved Guinness storehouse and the Irish stew there was excellent!We also liked the Archaeology museum(free admission).This visit we plan to visit Kilmainham Gaol and shop at Penneys.

I visited Ireland in May 2016 and Kilmainham Gaol was a very cool/special place. Looking forward to going back (and eating my weight in brown bread)!
 
Hi all - Was on the DCL web site this morning and noticed there are no port adventures posted for Cork?? What's up with that??!!!?? Thought I saw something listed for every stop previously? Hmmm maybe they are shuffling the deck for that port? I know we're still outside the booking window but I like to have a good idea of what we're doing ahead of that.
 
I have been thinking the same thing and in fact, yesterday I started doing some online research. From what I see on various websites, it looks like a beautiful port, with lots to do right there in Cobh. (I guess its pronounced "cove") It seems as if the cruise ships are very close in to the port. There is a hop on- hop off style bus (that looks like a train). There are lots of regular tour buses that will take tourists into Cork and some of the interesting sights. I think its probably going to be the easiest port of call to do on our own, if need be. I'm so looking forward to this cruise!
 
I think I read somewhere that they would have the Cork excursions posted at least 120 days out. I assumed that this was because this is a port that DCL has never been to before.
 
So I was wondering if anyone going on this cruise ( from the States) has booked airfare yet?

We have been watching ticket prices for several weeks and finally decided we needed to pin it down.
Hope we don't regret doing it so far in advance! However, I must say shortly after we booked, we have seen certain segments of the flight we're on skyrocketing in price. I can't imagine the plane is full.
We're using British Airways and they have recently priced "premium economy" seats higher than business class on one leg of the trip! We aren't seasoned world travelers- so perhaps wild price swings are normal?
 
So I was wondering if anyone going on this cruise ( from the States) has booked airfare yet?

We have been watching ticket prices for several weeks and finally decided we needed to pin it down.
Hope we don't regret doing it so far in advance! However, I must say shortly after we booked, we have seen certain segments of the flight we're on skyrocketing in price. I can't imagine the plane is full.
We're using British Airways and they have recently priced "premium economy" seats higher than business class on one leg of the trip! We aren't seasoned world travelers- so perhaps wild price swings are normal?

We booked ours at 11 months ahead of the Cruise. Some research on price patterns will show that often the lowest fares are at 11 months, then again around 5 months out - but to answer your last question about wild price swings, absolutely -they vary a LOT, you just have to be ready to jump on them when the drop as many of the fluctuations downwards won't last more than 24 hours, or even less. Pete, we've also seen some pretty good price hikes since we booked our flights - made me glad I booked when I did!

A couple of tips for others that haven't booked yet - look at flying out of other airports than your closest one - we're actually "repositioning" to Salt Lake instead of Denver for our flights, and saving almost $1000 each in doing so (even adding on the repositioning flight to Salt Lake). Also, if you're eligible for AARP, British Airways has a discount that ranges from $100-$200 per person, depending on class of ticket.

Use Google Flights to track fares, sometimes they'll catch a sale price and alert you to the drop before you might have checked on your own.

Good luck to anyone still waiting to book, hope you can catch a great fare and we'll see you On Board!
 
I have been thinking the same thing and in fact, yesterday I started doing some online research. From what I see on various websites, it looks like a beautiful port, with lots to do right there in Cobh. (I guess its pronounced "cove") It seems as if the cruise ships are very close in to the port. There is a hop on- hop off style bus (that looks like a train). There are lots of regular tour buses that will take tourists into Cork and some of the interesting sights. I think its probably going to be the easiest port of call to do on our own, if need be. I'm so looking forward to this cruise!
We look outside of DCL for excursions as well... Getting DW to feel comfortable booking trips outside Diz took a little practice :) But we've been on a couple now and have come out no worse for the wear.... and a couple of bucks ahead I might add.
Would like to get the group's input on booking excursions thru DCL vs. independently. My research - not an expert just doing web searches - resulted in finding most everything DCL posts can be booked directly with the tour provider at a cheaper cost. Diz usually about 15% higher. We love Disney and want to buy from them but I want to understand what I'm getting for my 15%. Any thoughts??
 
We look outside of DCL for excursions as well... Getting DW to feel comfortable booking trips outside Diz took a little practice :) But we've been on a couple now and have come out no worse for the wear.... and a couple of bucks ahead I might add.
Would like to get the group's input on booking excursions thru DCL vs. independently. My research - not an expert just doing web searches - resulted in finding most everything DCL posts can be booked directly with the tour provider at a cheaper cost. Diz usually about 15% higher. We love Disney and want to buy from them but I want to understand what I'm getting for my 15%. Any thoughts??

I’ve been looking at sites outside of Disney and I’m a little weary. Mainly I can only find one tour per site and from the descriptions it sounds like a lot of time on the coach and not much exploring. I've mainly been looking for tours in Cork and Greenock. In Dublin I heard there is a free shuttle from the port to downtown and we are going to book our own tickets for Guinness and explore on our own. Still trying to decide about Liverpool.
 
Any looking for help with Dublin, let me know, its very easy to do DIY instead of Dis excursions. The same with Cork And yes I can confirm that for both the 2016 and the 2017 cruises, there were free shuttles from the port into the city centre ( we dont call it downtown :) )

For looking at the 2016 and 2017 Dublin post excursions, it seems to me to be very Disneyfied Hollywood perspective of my home city which to me is not a true viewpoint of my home city and country. You wont get the real Dublin if you do the Disney excursions


There is so much history here, the city centre area is basically is living museum, many streets and buildings I walk past on a daily basis are 500 plus years old, one of the main footbridges across the river is 200 years old, you can literately walk the same streets and see the same buildings that Queen Elizabeth 1 of England would have seen if she had visited Dublin in 1596!!
 
I haven't found a FE page for this cruise yet, but I would love to be a part of it! We are gold-level cruisers, but first time fish extenders.
There is one be organized on the page that can't be named.
 

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